Legal and Ethical Issues

Nursing Ethical Issue Review Legal and Ethical Issues Nursing ethical issue review: The ethics of faculty misconduct Although ethical issues have been increasingly showcased within the nursing curriculum, according to Fowler & Davis (2013), less attention has been paid to the ethical concerns which are raised within the process of nursing education itself.

In a review of Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and PubMed databases only 10% of the nursing journal articles that were identified actually addressed ethical issues in nursing education and issues that were often discussed in more general literature on ethics in higher education, such as faculty sexual misconduct, were not addressed at all (Dowler & Davis 2013:127). While teacher-student sexual relations are legally prohibited because of the student's age at a high school level, the question of consent becomes considerably more complex at a college level.

"When sexual relationships between professors and students are permitted, it can sometimes be more difficult to recognize or report sexual harassment. Unwanted sexual advances by anyone, particularly someone in a position of power, can be intimidating or even frightening, which may impact whether or not a survivor feels comfortable reporting what has happened" (Martin, 1993). In other words, technically nursing students may be 'of age' but that does not necessarily mean that there cannot be elements of coercion if a faculty member should make sexual advances to the student.

The paucity of literature on the subject may not simply be rooted in a desire of authors to make the nursing profession 'look good' but also because there tends to be an assumed gender imbalance in favor of females at all nursing schools. However, this assumption is problematic for several reasons: first and foremost, sexual harassment can be female-on-female. Secondly, there are male faculty and students at nursing schools.

Regardless of who is conducting the harassment, the issues remain regarding the inherent conflict of interest between the role of the faculty member as in loco parentis and the student: "as advisers, teachers, and mentors, faculty members may be among the most trusted adults in a student's life.

Often a student will invest a deep and respectful trust in a faculty member and if that faculty member responds in a sexually inappropriate way, it violates that trust, it is confusing, and it can often be traumatic to the student" (Professor-student sexual assault, 2013, Pact5). There is an additional concern of the imbalance of power between student and faculty member which can make it difficult for the student to feel as if he or she can say 'no,' even if the student is an adult.

These ethical concerns may be exacerbated in a nursing school context: nursing schools are often very difficult for students to get into, which may make student nurses feel as if their place is tenuous; also, faculty members more often assume the role of mentor.